Owner-Operator VS Company Driver: The Differences

Company drivers are traditional employees of a trucking company.

Company drivers are typically provided a tractor, a trailer, health insurance, paid vacations, and other benefits.

The company takes care of the logistics and finding loads and other staff.

Owner-operators are knowledgeable and disciplined business people.  

They can move freight on their own. Or they can run freight for a trucking company.

Usually, they lease or own the truck they use to run the freight for a trucking company.

Owners-operators can operate under their authority, which means that they can legally transport freight independently without a carrier company contracting them.

One of the best things about being a company driver is that, after you are done working for the day, you have no other responsibilities.

There are no worries to take home with you.

Owner-operators must take care of all the aspects of running a trucking business.

They keep up with the bookkeeping, truck maintenance, insurance, fuel efficiency, marketing, finances, legal, Department of Transportation (DOT) regulation, federal and state laws, permits, claim filings, taxes, and recordkeeping, administrative aspects of the business.

That is why owner-operators require higher pay per load compared to the company driver's pay.

Company drivers receive less than an owner- operator per every run but the total paycheck is entirely theirs. 

They don't need to make truck payments, repair bills, oil changes, buy down deductible insurance, maintenance costs.

Owner-operators receive a bigger chunk of the total pay for every run.

But that doesn't always mean having more money in the owner-operator's pockets.

Company drivers, unlike owner-operators, are employees of a trucking company.

The trucking company pays all of its costs and provides them with standard employee benefits such as PTO, health insurance, and covering maintenance costs.

Owner-operators typically do not have, or have very limited benefits, from the trucking company that they contract with.

The company driver's time off is his own. He is free to spend it how he wants.

He doesn't need to worry about company equipment, maintenance, paperwork, bookkeeping tasks, or cleaning your truck.

However, some trucking companies want to have their drivers the most time out of their truckers.

That affects mostly OTR drivers who are pushed to spend less home time.

That is why, sometimes, they push their drivers to spend more time on the road.

You may have heard that owner-operators have a more flexible schedule.

But what does that mean?

Owner-operators work on their terms.

They can either drive without time off or they can take off as much time as they want.

Time off for an owner-operator may mean taking the time to do truck maintenance, repair the truck, and pick up or drop it off from the shop.

Those who take care of the business tasks take off time from an owner-operator's home time.

Sometimes, owner-operators don't have much time left over to spend with their families.

Company drivers have more stability and they operate under lower risk than owner-operators do. 

In trucking, unexpected things such as breakdowns, accidents, delays, and other unpredictable events happen to every owner-operator.

That is why they should have sufficient cash in savings to cover any unexpected event requiring a large expense happening to their business.

If company drivers don't like the trucking company they work for, they can simply walk away without the worry of breaking any contractual agreements or losing money. 

It is simply a matter of finding another driving job.  

For owner-operators, changing the carrier is harder because they have a time period signed in the agreement.

If they break the agreement, there are consequences.

For a company driver there is no other cost  than the CDL driver training.

After getting a type of CDL, the driver may jump in the truck and start earning money. 

For owner-operators, the cost of being in the trucking business is much higher.

Though you are taking home more money, you’re also paying more out of pocket for maintenance and other needs. Some of the biggest costs of owning a truck include:

• Fuel.
• Maintenance.
• Tires.
• Health insurance.
• Liability insurance.
• Breakdowns.

These costs are often unpredictable and unavoidable.

To reduce some of these costs, owner-operators must track them to stay ahead of expensive breakdowns.

After all, if the truck breaks down while on the road, not only is there the cost of fixing the truck but a broken down truck is also not making any money.

Some truckers won’t drive anything but a certain engine and transmission combination. And that is a problem for them because, as a company driver, you must drive the truck that you are given.

Company trucks are most commonly designed for functionality and not for driver comfort.

That means that comfort might have to be sacrificed.

However, to improve driver retention, some trucking companies pay more attention to the driver's comfort.

Owner-operators don’t need to deal with slip seating and other drivers messing with their equipment and changing settings in the truck.

Owner-operators own their truck. These trucks are best suited for their needs and comfort.

They may personalize their equipment such as buying a particular seat brand and setting it at a preferred height.

Sometimes, the dispatcher pushes the truck driver that takes the driver out of his comfort zone such as being asked to do an additional load or giving him tight deadlines.

Forced dispatch is not so much of a problem for the truck owner.

The owner operator usually has more choice to pick and choose loads, although this depends mostly on the company.  

The truck owner has more control over his job, in general.

Companies tend to ‘cheap out’ on certain things like tires buying lower quality rubber in bulk for their fleet trucks.

If comparing the overall safety of an owner-operator, he may have an edge.

For example, he can choose a heavier profile, better quality tire with better grip.

Besides delivering their loads on time, company drivers don't have the amount of stress that owner operators do. 

Due to financial risks and pressure, truck payments, unexpected expensive equipment repairs, and unexpected illness, owner-operators can endure a great deal of stress.

Even when doing everything right, the unexpected can bring an owner-operator down fast.

The pressure and stress faced by an owner-operator can be greater than that of an employed driver.

Being on top of your finances while being a company driver is easier.

You wait for your paycheck at the end of the week or month and, after that, you plan what you want to do with that money.

Guessing, rounding, and overestimating your revenue and expenses can be detrimental to any owner-operator.

One hidden skill that successful owner-operators have is their ability to organize their finances.

They are on top of their budget and they know their finances inside out.

An owner-operator has to keep the cost of running their business top of mind while remaining revenue driven.